This July 29, 2014 file photo shows a major water main break that sent a geyser of water blasting through Sunset Boulevard, north of the UCLA campus. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Los Angeles Daily News/File)

Department of Water and Power officials said Wednesday it was only a matter of time before the aging, corroded pipeline under Sunset Boulevard would have ruptured, spilling water everywhere and creating massive problems.

Jim McDaniel, assistant general manager for DWP, told the City Council’s Energy and Environment Committee that the corrosion was so bad in some parts of the pipeline, originally installed in 1921, that workers could poke a hole through it.

The total cost of repairing the broken pipe and the damage the water caused are still being determined, McDaniel said.

The 20 million gallons of water that spilled when the pipe burst July 29 will cost the city $50,000, McDaniel said, and that figure represents about 4 percent of the 600 million gallons of water consumed daily. The cost of labor for repairs is minimized, he said, because all are city workers who would have been on the job in any case.

In addition, DWP General Manager Marcie Edwards said the city has an insurance policy that will cover some of the damage claims that are expected, particularly from the people whose cars were flooded in the underground parking garages. Under its insurance policy, the DWP covers the first $3 million and the insurance covers up to $100 million.

Edwards said the utility is working with UCLA on helping process from claims students or university staff.

City Council members pressed Edwards about ways to speed up replacing pipelines, and speeding up the replacement from its current 300-year cycle down to a 100-year period.

“We need a strategy on what we logistically could do,” Edwards said, pointing to city restrictions on when the agency can do certain work.

“We don’t want to set a schedule where we are potentially starving other work we need to do,” Edwards said. “We know the one clear strategy is we need to expedite replacing the infrastructure. It’s finding a way to replace them that is not overwhelming to our streets.”

McDaniel said going immediately to a 100-year replacement cycle would mean tearing up one-third of the city’s streets.

One of the problems any replacement program faces is funding, and Mayor Eric Garcetti repeated this week he has no plans to support a DWP rate increase.

Garcetti said it is more important to restore public confidence in the utility before any rate increase is sought.

Edwards said she is hiring an expert who could assist the department in assessing the cost and work needed to replace the aging pipes that deliver water in the city.

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